


Nightlight

by purpletheory



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-13 20:16:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3394997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purpletheory/pseuds/purpletheory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is sent after the Hulk when Nick Fury makes it obvious that he has no choice. He doesn't understand the doctor, but maybe he is about to get a chance</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Tony brushed at some of the rubble that was stuck between the joint made of knotted metal at his elbow. He was glad that he made a robot that's sole job was to clean his suit of armor because the task would be grueling manually. All he wished for was a hot bath and a good night's sleep. The Iron Man had been up for more than thirty-six hours and he felt deserving of some rest. Grumbling he picked himself up from the crater that had been created by the force of his own body being thrown against the ground and huffed as his muscles protested. Just because he had a suit of metal armor protecting him, did not mean that he couldn't feel the impact of a huge green monster throwing him several thousand feet in the air, simultaneously breaking his fuel pack upon releasing him. Fury had another thing coming when he got back to headquarters. He did NOT want to be on Hulk detail ever again.

According to their fearless, one-eyed leader, the temperamental scientist had gone missing from his little lab where he worked in the Bronx. Tony had taken an interest in the man's brain but quickly shied away from friendship because of his tendency to throw him into large structures. He liked the idea of studying the man, but especially now, he wished he could do it from a safe distance. Tony had tracked the scientist to an area just outside of Dover and quickly found him using the tracking technology kindly, yet unknowingly supplied by the DNA Tony had extracted from the Hulk some weeks ago.

When he finally saw him, he stopped in his tracks. He had changed into civilian clothes to try and attract less attention and had snuck up on the Hulk's location, which oddly happened to be a flower shop. Dr. Banner had his hands full of flowers and he was walking from the door towards the busy street. But Tony only noticed his face. It was tight with some kind of emotion and his eyes glistened. Tony has never claimed to be an expert on emotions so he had no idea what the man was feeling but he looked both sad and furious at the same time, and his hands clenched the bundle of posies in his hands firmly. Tony didn't know what he had expected to find, but this sight wasn't part of anything he imagined. Whenever he pictured the man, he thought of his Hulk side, green and growling. But the man across the street looked normal, if a little lost. Ignoring his wary feeling of pity, Tony strode from under the shop awning he had been using for cover and stepped into the street towards Bruce, who was still standing outside the flower shop looking from side to side. Striding right up to his quarry, he stuck a hand out to pull him out of the light foot traffic along the block.

Bruce stumbled and pulled sharply away, gasping.

"Well, well, if it isn't our resident scientist monster," Tony snarked in a low voice. Bruce stared at him for a few seconds, after regaining his balance and Tony would be lying if he weren't a little shaken by the intensity of his gaze. Bulling ahead, he continued, "You've had Fury squawking over in D.C. since you've been missing, where ya been, great green giant?"

Bruce narrowed his eyes and pulled a hand off his flowers but then simply turned on his heel and marched off. Surprised, Tony followed him, grabbing his elbow and was stunned when Bruce tore his arm out of his grip savagely and broke into a fast run. Tony quickly lost sight of him in the crowd. Tony sighed, he had hoped that the Doctor would agree to contact Fury and would go back home. As unexpected as this was, Tony was sure he could find him with the homemade tracker he had installed in his watch. He looked down only to see that it was missing. The doctor must have taken it off his wrist when he grabbed him! Tony snorted in frustration and tore off in the direction that Bruce had run in. The man would soon realize that he wasn't the only one with a temper problem. Tony stubbornly kept running before he realized that it was futile as his agile prey had a much better start than he. He went back to the park where he had hidden his suit in a tree and quickly strapped himself in. Waving to a group of elementary school kids who sat motionless with their mouths hanging open, the Iron Man sped up to regulation height then started the program for the tracker with a sharp command to Jarvis. The blinking blue indicator showed that his target was still on the move. He flew down to helicopter height and began following the mark. By the time he hovered over his quarry, the mark had stopped and he found himself above a rundown old cemetery. Without thinking further he darted down and plummeted to the ground in front of the doctor. His suit made a loud clanging sound and he realized he had landed on cement that immediately cracked beneath his weight and the force of his descent. Bruce looked surprised but then he looked absolutely furious.

"Leave me alone!" He shouted, his fist no longer containing flowers.

"Well tell someone before you take a vacation and I wouldn't have to babysit!"

Bruce clenched his jaw and looked away and down. Tony glared at him before looked in the direction the doctor was looking. A gravestone poked out of the grass beside them, a fresh bouquet of flowers lying in front of it.

"You can pay respects to your scientific career after you get an official leave."

Tony knew as soon as the words left his mouth that he had gone too far.

Bruce's head whipped up and his eyes lit with fire. He growled and just like that he began to grow right in front of his eyes. The loose nondescript shirt that he had been wearing torn to shreds as his muscles expanded. Tony had always been in awe of the Hulk even before he had seen him. Now was no different than the time the Dr. Banner had first transformed in front of him during the alien battle. Tony stood amazed as Bruce Banner went from several inches shorter than he to an amazing eight or nine feet tall. Before he could even think of running, he was staring into the face of a snarling, growling green monster. It was those eyes that finally got him, green with brown at the very center. He stepped backwards then engaged his fuel packs and shot upwards in the air, but not quickly enough. The Hulk grabbed his foot and threw him into the cement in front of him roaring as he came crashing down. Tony tried a command to Jarvis but just as he started, the giant green man took a hold of him in one great fist.

"Sir, we have reached criti-uhhhhlll-" Jarvis began but his normally pleasant voice distorted and silenced as the hulk squeezed the red and gold suit. Tony felt the metal contract around him under the pressure. Just as he thought that the rage monster would crush him to death, the hulk stopped squeezing, his face melding into something akin to disapproval and he said in a deep gravelly tone, "Little tin man leave Hulk alone." And with that he hefted the iron man suit, drew back and threw him into the air.

In order to get anything done about this 'developing' monster man hunt, tony would have to get back to his tower and get his back up suit. He walked slowly to the perimeter of the parking lot and looked around at his surroundings. He was in a Denny's lot far from that little flower shop that he had first encountered Bruce. He was miles and miles away from his home and he couldn't call Pepper even if he wanted to. Jarvis was unresponsive, his suit mangled as it was.

He cringed thinking of Pep- Mrs.Potts. Their last encounter had left the redhead storming from his presence, with a suitcase in hand yelling that Tony wasn't even allowed to use her first name anymore because they were strangers. Tony began walking towards were he thought the center of town was, his suit creaking and breaking off at each step.

He had been distant from her for months. It wasn't her at all and Tony knew he was being unfair to her but he couldn't stop his behavior. She couldn't stay with him because he had frequent night terrors and she said that she would never get any sleep or work done the next day if she stayed in the same room with him. Ever since that night that left Tony watching her leave his bed for the last time and leaving him alone, she had been mad that he couldn't control his behavior at night. He had tried to control himself and even when he succeeded she would still complain about how his arc reactor shone too brightly and asked him to put a dark shirt on. When he refused to accommodate her... well that's when her concern for him took the backseat. He couldn't explain it, but after his sojourn into a space portal and seeing those alien forces with a backdrop of pure darkness, he felt wary about spending any time in the dark. He stopped covering his chest when the sun fell.

Tony felt a chill race down his spine at the thought of night descending, and he took a worried glance at the sky. It was getting late and dusk was falling quickly. He tried to step up his pace, but moaned in pain as he felt a new bruise on his calf and the whole left shin guard fell off. In an angry moment, he swept down and snatched the piece from the pavement and knelt in exhaustion.

"You completely deserve this."

Tony knew it was Bruce without having to look up from his defeat. Bruce had a quiet, low voice that was easy to miss but Tony remembered the tone's sometimes bright sarcasm from the hours spent in the flying lab trying to find Thor's stupid psycho brother and his magic crazy box.

"Yeah," was all he managed. He still looked down, not having the willpower to look up at the guy who should be yelling and going green once more.

Instead of another beat down, Tony saw a rough hand come into the cracked view from his mask. He looked up in surprise. The doctor held a slightly disapproving look on his face but still his proffered hand remained. Tony couldn't help think that the same face on the Hulk looked even more intimidating on the doctor's rugged features.

Tony stifled his tendency to put his foot in his mouth long enough for him to accept the help and creak to his feet. He stumbled and the shorter doctor stepped forward to help support his weight and keep him from falling.

"Thanks, Frank."

He saw a tired yet confused glance from Bruce and clarified as he removed his face plate, "Frankenstein! You know that other green monster?"

Tony almost winced at his instinct to insult as he saw the doctor look down and refrain from comment.

They began walking and Tony continued to ramble, "Well, actually that's not it. Frankenstein is the name of the inventor not the monster. I wonder what the fella's name is then? Maybe we should call him baby hulk or hulk thing one. Don't worry! You can be thing two, since he technically came before you."

Tony abruptly stopped talking and almost doubled over at the wrench in his stomach.

Bruce chuckled a little bit and Tony looked at him warily. Why wasn't he getting mad at his prodding? And while they were on the matter of questions, where were they walking?

Tony asked as much and Bruce just quietly sighed, "It's getting dark and even though you did deserve what you got from the big guy, I feel bad about you being all broken. We are going to my apartment here."

"Why do you have an apartment in New Jersey? This place is a shithole."

Bruce was quiet for some time. They finally came upon a nondescript building that seemed to be falling apart. Bruce directed them towards the entrance and fumbled with the electronic pass code box. When he was done punching in the four digits, the box came loose from the cracked drywall and hung by its wires. The metal gate clicked open and the doctor helped tony down the hall. He stopped at the second door down and jiggled the doorknob. When he found it locked, he jerked the handle upwards and shoved against the door with his shoulder. The door popped open and they stumbled inside. Tony raised an eyebrow as he practically fell onto the tattered couch.

"Breaking and entering? I thought this was yours."

Bruce carefully shut the door and made sure that it still locked, "I used to live here a long time ago. I made an agreement with the landlady. She lets me stay here if I ever need it because I helped cure her grandson of an auto immune disease a while back."

Tony was quiet at that, biting his tongue from mocking the prince charming-esque statement.

He began to painstakingly remove his armor. Bruce leaned against the counter-top and watched as Tony struggled.

It had been a long time since he had ever had to take off his armor manually and he longed for the secure, bright lab with all of his equipment. Hell, he even wished he had Dum-E. As he wrestled off his breastplate, Bruce turned towards the fridge and opened it. Tony peaked around to look, feeling his stomach rumble. He tugged off one of the iron boots, putting himself off balance and crashing into the coffee table. He lay amid the splintered piece of furniture and sighed. When he didn't get up, Bruce meandered over and looked down at him.

"You gonna be OK?"

"You did a number on my suit. It's almost stuck to me now from all the force you put on it. It's a little hard to get off," Tony huffed in irritation.

"That wasn't me."

Bruce walked down the hall, leaving Tony to gingerly get up and try to free himself from his metal prison alone. He succeeded in getting his upper half uncovered, and by now the tight spaced living area was covered in scraps of metal, parts, oil, and chips of paint. When he wrested off the thigh piece, he soon realized why his leg hurt so bad. An inner length of piping had become lodged in his thigh. He groaned and gritting his teeth, yanked it out of his flesh. Fresh blood gushed out to coat the already dried amount on his jeans.

Ten minutes later, he was finally free of what had been his most up to date pride and joy. He limped back to the couch and collapsed on it. He had just closed his eyes when he heard the familiar voice say, "Don't bleed all over my couch."

"Well excuse me. Let me go bleed all over your bathroom."

Tony tiredly lurched up and hobbled to the bathroom, brushing past banner angrily.

He should have designed a better protection against intense force. He had lightened the material in favor of more speed but he should have taken into account the battles he got knocked around in. He would have to find a better compromise because this- This was NOT happening again. he stumbled to the sink and started the sink. When nothing sputtered out, he groaned in frustration and sank to the ground.

"You should take your pants off."

Tony cracked an eye to look at the man standing awkwardly in the doorway. Even in his exhausted state, he still managed to smirk and was about to snark about the doctor's intentions but didn't get any further as the man knelt down beside him and reached for his belt. Tony jerked a little in surprise, gasping out, "Not on the first date!"

Bruce chuckled his sad little laugh and looked up at Tony. The Iron Man gave a little smile in response to the genuine expression on Bruce's tired face. Bruce unbuckled his belt and was tugging down his jeans before Tony could make another comment. He hissed in pain as the material dragged across his wound. Bruce leaned over him to start the faucet in the bath and Tony breathed in the clean smell of his shirt. The doctor grabbed a towel and wet it down before lightly dabbing at the angry red opening in his leg. Tony watched him, his eyes half-lidded as the doctor lived up to his title and treated him. From somewhere behind the sink the man brought out a cursory first aid kit and before he could bat an eye, a needle was sewing up the punctured skin. Tony stiffened in pain but said nothing. When he was done, Bruce threw the towel into the sink and sat back opposite Tony.

Tony let his head fall back onto the cold wall behind him between the sink and the toilet and let his eyes fall shut. He could fall asleep in this crazy uncomfortable position he was so tired. He opened his eyes slowly when he heard rustling come from the other man. Bruce slumped against the wall and yawned.

"Well aren't we fun tonight."

Bruce gave a half-hearted smile and Tony began to try and get up.

He forgot about his pants situation and fell partly onto the doctor. For a moment he just let his forehead rest on the man's collarbone before getting all the way up. He wiggled out of the rest of his jeans and held a hand down to the man who sat with an unreadable expression in front of him. Bruce stared at him for several moments, but when Tony began to sway on his feet he accepted the hand and led the injured man out of the closet-sized bath. He let Tony into the only other room in the flat and Tony immediately got down on the dirty floor. He could barely keep his eyes open.

"Tony." When the man didn't answer, Bruce shook him by the shoulder lightly, "Tony!"

"Wha?"

"Come on, you can have the bed."

"M'okay," He mumbled and swayed upright again and fell onto the small twin sized bed. He heard Bruce laugh from what seemed like light years away. He twisted and grabbed a hold of the doctor. Bruce struggled wildly for a moment but then stopped when he realized that the witty man held him pretty closely.

Tony was barely registering what was happening at this point and he said in a whispered slur, "Les just sleep K?"

He never heard if Bruce answered because he fell right over the edge into unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

Bruce woke up to the soft blue light of something right in front of his face. He slowly blinked himself out of sleep and realized what it was.

Because of his… condition. He usually didn't react before taking stock of a situation fully so he didn't move until he understood what was going on.

The light happened to be Tony Stark's artificial heart. His arc reactor. Bruce was held tightly by the inventor, his arms making it hard to shift away. Tony's hands were everywhere, or at least it felt like it. A couple of his fingers were even tucked into the waistband of his pants that he had never gotten to take off the night before.

Bruce would be angry about it if it weren't for both his training, as well as the fact that Tony was obviously sound asleep still. It was probably just something that happened during the night.

The scientist remembered being pulled down onto the slim bed and held there by one sleepy Tony, and it seemed as though the older man hadn't let go of him once during the night.

Bruce shifted, trying to untangle them. Tony mumbled something and tried to pull Bruce back in, against him.

Bruce became more forceful, and ended up accidentally shoving the man off the other side of the bed.

Tony gave a muffled sound of surprise and he woke up on the floor, his head ringing a little from having hit the wall.

"Wha?"

Bruce poked his head over the side of the bed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to shove you off. You just wouldn't let go of me."

"You mean… you wouldn't let go of me. I wasn't holding you at all."

Bruce chuckled, "You don't remember last night very well do you?"

"Why, did you deflower me? Gasp! How unlike you, Dr. Banner!" Tony's sharp sarcasm apparently didn't take long to show up in the morning.

"Deflower? You have no flower left."

"Because you took it!" Tony grabbed the side of the bed and hoisted himself to his feet. His leg hurt like hell, and he remembered having to tear out a piece of his suit from his upper thigh.

Bruce got up as well, and left the room, making his way to the kitchen.

Tony stumbled around trying to find his pants, and he blushed, just slightly as he remembered grabbing a hold of the doctor before falling asleep. Oh well, what's done is done.

Bruce looking at the mess that Tony had created with his suit when the other man came in, having successfully put on his bloodied pants and joined him.

"I'll have someone come in and clean this all up, not that it'll make much of a difference in this place, eh greenie?"

Tony shuffled to the fridge only to find that it had nothing inside of it.

Bruce just watching him as he muttered to himself about how this apartment was reminiscent of a certain middle eastern dirt cell he'd been in once.

Bruce rolled his eyes, "Look, I'll call Fury today. You can get back to your mansion in the sky now.

"Well, I would if I had any way to contact the tower. My suit is destroyed, thanks to you, and Pepper…"

Bruce raised an eyebrow as the other man trailed off. The man shut a cupboard door loudly, "Pepper left me."

Not expecting anything but nonsense from the man, Bruce didn't know what to say.

Tony turned towards him and just stared. For once, there was no sarcasm or insulting jokes. They just looked at each other.

"I'll get you to a payphone. You can get Fury to get you home."

With that Bruce left the apartment, leaving Tony to hurriedly catch up.

"This is so archaic. They have these still? I mean seriously?"

Bruce ignored the huffy man and slid in two quarters into the machine. He held up the receiver and waited for Fury to answer. The line clicked but there was no answer. "It's me, Bruce. I'm in New Jersey. I came down on my own time, I didn't realize you needed me. I, uh, broke Tony's suit so you'll have to come pick him up. Next time? Don't send the one man guaranteed to make the other guy want to come out and play."

There was a moment of silence before Fury replied, "Tell me your location and I will collect Iron Man. Next time, don't go off the grid."

Bruce told him and then hung up.

"Hey! I wanted to talk to dad!" Tony whined in his ear.

Bruce just looked at him and sat down on the curb. After a few moments, Tony joined him stiffly. They sat there in silence for a while until Tony said, "Thanks. For helping me last night."

Bruce just nodded and in a few more moments, a black car pulled up in front of them.

"Tony Stark and Bruce Banner?" A man asked as he rolled down the window.

"That's us!" Tony jumped up awkwardly and made to get into the vehicle, "Don't kidnap me, ok?"

Bruce informed the man that he would be back in his lab by 2 pm and that he had some other errands to attend to while in New Jersey. The man nodded and they took off, leaving the doctor behind.

Bruce couldn't help but think that he had never heard Tony thank anyone for anything, unless it was in jest.

He went back to the apartment and just locked it up. There was no reason to believe that Tony wouldn't come back to get his damaged suit, but he didn't want the place left open to make sure no one stumbled in and stole anything off of it.

He closed the door and made his way slowly back to the cemetery. He had been visiting his mother's grave, and he wanted to finish his ritual.

He did this on the anniversary of her death. Every time, he bought her favorite flowers and went to sit by her grave and talk to her. People always said it was strange that he remembered so much of his early childhood, but attributed it to his high intelligence level.

He stopped in front of the gravestone titled "Rebecca Banner, loving mother and wife" followed by the dates. After long years of him touching the word mother with his fingers, it was almost rubbed away.

He sat down heavily and looked at the flowers. His mother had always loved simple posies and had a bunch of them planted in their backyard when he was growing up. Even now, years and years later he felt the anger towards his father well in inside of him.

He took eight deep breaths, the number assigned to 'copious', and closed his eyes and began to talk.

"Hey mom. I was here yesterday, but I didn't get to talk to you because Iron Man showed up. He makes me so mad. The other guy came out because he insulted you. Well, I don't think he knew why I was here or who you were but I still got so angry. I crushed his suit and I could've killed him. Dad was right. I may not have been a monster then. But I am one now."

Bruce was crying a little bit now, tears leaking from his closed eyelids.

"I didn't mean to hurt him, but the other guy doesn't care about my intentions. I tried to help him afterwards, I sutured his leg wound and I let him stay at my old apartment. He… I slept in the same bed with him, and mom… I've never slept so well. He had his arms around me and I fell asleep to the blue light from his artificial heart. It was nice not to be alone in the dark for once."

Bruce stopped talking. He always felt a little foolish, talking to bones in the ground, but he came every year anyway, because he missed her so much that it physically hurt. He usually felt better after giving her a candid update on his life, but as he opened his eyes and took in the desolate cemetery, he just felt all the more alone.

The doctor sighed and got up. He dusted off his pants and headed out of the gate towards the street. It was a long walk into the city where he had left his Oldsmobile. He drove back to his lab in New York, listening to an old rock station; feeling like his life couldn't be emptier at the moment. He had helped the 'Avengers', as Captain America had taken to calling them, defeat the alien menace that Thor's brother had threatened upon earth. He hadn't been one of the ones surprised to hear about real aliens, there was no way humans were the only intelligent life forms in the universe; not had he been surprised to read about Thor in the news. The man claimed to be a god, and after seeing him in action, it was hard to dispute. Thor and Captain America hung out a lot, as did the red haired woman, Black Widow, and that little archer guy. Iron Man didn't really hang out with anyone, though Bruce thought he had so much inventor stuff on his mind, he didn't need company.

Bruce couldn't have company. He hated to be around people. He had no idea when the other guy would start pressing on his consciousness. He couldn't take the risk. Besides, everyone on the team was wary of him. Captain America straight up told him he couldn't be trusted and he agreed wholeheartedly. He was pretty sure he had scarred agent Romanov for years if not life. The only one who seemed to go out of their way to aggravate him was Tony. He couldn't figure it out either. Did the man have a death wish? He acted like it was all just a game to him, and maybe it was. But the other guy couldn't stand him, and by extension Bruce tried to keep his distance.

Bruce was fascinated by the inventor, however. He was brilliant. He was passionate. He was funny.

All things that Bruce wished he could be. He was smart, but he couldn't be passionate for fear of waking up his alter ego. And he very rarely cracked jokes. He never felt like he had anything to laugh about. But Tony had money and Pepper and fans and his brilliant work. His Iron Man suit was a marvel, but what really intrigued Bruce was his arc reactor. He couldn't believe it when he read that Tony had made in in the Middle East while he had been held captive and heavily wounded. He would love to look at the schematics of the thing.

That, would take getting to know Tony better. Something he knew was a bad idea.

He sighed as pulled up to his lab and parked and locked his car. The lab wasn't anything fancy. It was all substandard equipment that he had been given by S.H.I.E.L.D. He didn't want to have expensive things because of his condition. He could work with outdated models of machines just as easily. He had furnished the place after going to a high school schoolroom sale and a lot of the items mismatched. He liked the lab, but nowhere had seemed like home to him since the accident.

Knowing that Fury had been notified the second he stepped inside, he didn't bother to call him. Instead, he pulled out his research on modern pathology and began to revise. Better to keep him mind busy.

Around 8 he stopped to get something to eat. Above the lab, there was a small living space. Almost like those trendy studio apartments but without the stylish part. Every piece of furniture was a garage sale find. He found a couple day old box of take out and microwaved it. As he headed back down to the lab, the phone rang. He had a mobile but he hardly kept track of it. He had almost giving up on finding it when he finally looked in the fridge.

The phone vibrated gently against some expired orange juice. Bruce scowled at himself and answered right as the call went to voicemail.

"Dr. Banner."

"Brucie!"

Bruce held the bridge of his nose when he recognized the voice, "What do you want, Tony?"

"I just wanted to inform you that I got all the pieces of my suit out of your place. I also tweaked a couple things as a sort of thank you for letting me crash there."

"You didn't have to do that," Bruce said automatically.

"Too bad. Look, you should come over to the Tower tomorrow, I've been working on something and I want to see what you think."

Bruce shook his head and then felt foolish because Tony couldn't see him, "I don't think that's a good idea…"

Tony made a rude sound and Bruce shook his head again at the man's childishness, "Nonsense. Think of it as an apology for what happened yesterday."

Bruce said nothing.

Tony's voice took on a more serious tone, "Just think about it? I'll be there all day."

Then he hung up, leaving Bruce wanting to call him back and say, 'yes he would love to come check out all of Tony's cool gadgets but no, he couldn't do it because he would most likely destroy millions of dollars' worth of cool gadgets.

He sighed, and stopped short of putting his phone back into the fridge. He went back to his research and his food. He'd think about this later.


End file.
